Bhubaneswar: In yet another blow to the state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its state vice president Rajkishore Das joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) today. He had resigned from the saffron party earlier.

Das joined the state ruling party along with hundreds of his supporters at a ‘Mishrana Parva’ at BJD’s party office here in the presence of BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik. Several senior leaders of the conch party were also present at the event.

Speaking about the reason why he left the BJP, Raj Kishore, who is considered to be a heavyweight leader in Mayurbhanj district, said that he left the party because of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He said Pradhan felt my presence in the party as a threat to him.

Challenging Dharmendra to win the election from Odisha, Raj Kishore said, “I challenge him (Dharmendra) to contest the election and win it. I am sure he cannot win in any of the constituencies of Odisha. Let him fight the upcoming election against me.”

This apart, Raj Kishore alleged that he was feeling suffocated to be in the party as he was being harassed by the party functionaries.

Notably, Rajkishore Das had submitted his resignation from the primary membership and renounced state vice presidency on Mar 23.